


Dusk

by supercalvin



Series: 13 Nights of Halloween [10]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Halloween, M/M, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2014-10-28
Packaged: 2018-02-23 01:04:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2528252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supercalvin/pseuds/supercalvin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin tugged on his boots, lacing them up and tying the string around his calf. He sprayed on his cologne and ran his fingers through his hair. He slipped the belt around his hips and pulled on the studded leather jacket. Then he left his cheap apartment and made his way down to the pub.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dusk

**Author's Note:**

> For VanHelsing019, who begged me for vampires because what is a Halloween Series without vampires?

Merlin tugged on his boots, lacing them up and tying the string around his calf. He sprayed on his cologne and ran his fingers through his hair. He slipped the belt around his hips and pulled on the studded leather jacket. Then he left his cheap apartment and made his way down to the pub.

His target wasn’t hard to find. The girl had been in the same pub at the same time for over a month. She always left with a man around midnight, and tonight she would be picking up Merlin.

She looked up and down his frame, her eyes lingering on his hips and chest for a moment. He barely said a word to her, but he didn’t need to. She was enticing him in easily. All he had to do was respond with body language. He rested a hand on her hips and let his gaze crawl all over her.

They left the pub through the back entrance and then she had him pressed against the wall of the alley in a flash. Merlin let her hands roam under his shirt and responded with a bit of roaming of his own. She smiled against his lips, saying he was the best one she had all month.

Then her fangs descended.

Merlin acted quickly and spun her so that she was the one on the brick wall and he was holding her there. She hissed at him and struggled in his grasp, her eyes flashing bright red.

Merlin shook his head. “Planning on murdering me?” he asked casually.

“Only a little suck or two.” She smiled seductively, her fangs pressing into her red lipstick.

“Did your last one night stand like a little suck?” He purred, “Or did you drain him a little too much?”

Her expression changed from playfully seductive to murderous in a second. She realized Merlin had been watching her latest kills and now he was next on her list.

She twisted out of his grip and tried to break his neck, but he caught her hands and pushed her back against the wall again. “I could kill you, but I’ll make this easy for the both of us.” he said. “Drink animal blood and I’ll tell everyone you were changed against your will and went mad with thirst. No one will have you killed.”

She didn’t struggle against his grip. She considered Merlin’s offer. “Who the hell are you?”

Merlin didn’t answer.

“And if I say no?” she asked again.

Merlin let her fill in the blanks as he tightened his grip.

“Fine.” She hissed. “Fine, you fucking _vamphunter_. I should have known.”

He grabbed her by the wrist and locked her in silver cuffs, pushing her down the street to the nearest arrest and rehab center.

The next wasn’t as easy. Three of them against one of him. Late in the evening, they backed Merlin into the alley. Their fangs were descended and eyes shining crimson in the dark night.

The first one attacked and lunged straight at Merlin, who pulled the silver knife right in time to slice him on the chest, though not stab him. Then the second and third one joined. He wasn’t in the mood to be beaten, so he screamed out a spell and they all fell back several meters.

“Fucking _sorcerer_.” Cursed one of the vampires.

The spell only made them angrier. Merlin laughed and curled a finger at them, telling them to come and get him. His playfulness urged them on, and soon enough all three of them were back again.

This time Merlin went in for the kill, pulling out his silver dagger and thrusting it into the nearest heart. The man staggered, looking down at the knife than back at Merlin. With a strong pull, Merlin released the dagger and the man fell. The other two vampires looked more than ready to kill him.

One of them managed to grab him, his fangs ready to sink in, but Merlin hissed and his own fangs descended, startling the vampire and giving Merlin enough time to stab him straight in the heart.

The final vampire gave a cry of surprise. He exclaimed an obvious statement that Merlin was a vampire. He cursed Merlin and called him a traitor to his own kin, but the vampire didn’t know Merlin. He didn’t know that Merlin had been living for over a thousand years and that his only kin were dead and gone. He didn’t know that Merlin had been bitten while he was still waiting for his King to return. And he would never know.

Merlin’s eyes flashed a mix of gold and red, creating a fiery glow, before he thrust the silver dagger into the other vampire’s heart.

The cologne, as he called it, was a mix of his own creation. Along with human plasma, it had all kinds of hormones and pheromones that would replicate the smell of a human. It wasn’t perfect of course, which was why he stuck to crowded locations like nightclubs and local pubs. The smell of all those humans always threw them off his scent (or lack thereof).

He was fair skinned before the bite, but sometimes he made the extra effort to cover his skin in something that would make him look less like Death. His attire changed with every decade, but he always wore what would attract the modern vampires. There were always the ones who were killing. The older ones were either bored of the hunt or morally conscious. Merlin liked to think himself the latter.

Most vampires drank animal blood instead of human. Merlin didn’t like to think about the times when he had killed humans. But there were times, spread out between years of loneliness and despair, when insanity sunk in and his thirst threatened to kill him. He had killed and drank, despite the voice in his head which reminded him that he could never die while his destiny was still unfinished.

He wasn’t the first to drink animal blood, but he was one of the first in Europe to start a collection of ‘tamed’ vampires. Now it was more common for vampires to drink animal blood, but there were always the ones who refused or were too blinded by thirst to know better. Sometimes vampires would get a hold of blood samples from blood banks and drink it recreationally. But like all drugs, it could become addictive and lead vampires to hunt again. It wasn’t easy and the fact that Merlin himself hunted vampires just proved how complicated the whole matter was. But if Merlin looked back to Camelot, even then he had been called a traitor to his own kind.

Merlin didn’t bother with the cologne tonight. He didn’t care if the other vampires knew he was one of them. Where he was going, it would be easier for him to get in as a vampire than a human. None of them knew he was a hunter, his secret was well kept, and he blended in easily into the crowd.

When first bitten, some vampires remembered nothing of being human. Sometimes they were consumed by thirst and other times the trauma of being bitten wiped their memory. Either way, these vampires were dangerous and highly sought after. Other vampires would round up these new vampires who were devoid of any humanity, and sold them into underground businesses. Sometimes they were sold as sex workers and other times they were forced to fight in arenas.

Merlin often went to these underground businesses in order to talk to these vampires, tell them of a life besides slavery and if they wanted he would help them escape. Despite what some may think of him, a vampire who hunted other vampires, he wanted to protect his own kind as much as he wanted to protect humans.

When Merlin arrived at the arena, (nothing more than a crowded room, in the center of which was a ring where two vampires fought) it was already crowded and filled with the smell of blood. Many spectators had betting cards in their hands, but Merlin wasn’t interested in taking bets. He was more focused on the creatures in the ring than their profits.

The fights were animalistic. They were blind to the world outside the fight, knowing no other place. Fangs were descended and they hissed at each other as they punched, kicked, and bit. Then one of the vampires lunged and a head rolled, the other vampire crying out as she died. Merlin shuddered. He had hated violence even during the time of Camelot and this setting was hardly any different than the fight rings run by bandits.

The woman in charge of the fights called the winner and betters either yelled for their victory or swore at their loss. The dead vampire was quickly put away. The next two vampires were announced and Merlin heard excited muttering amongst the betters. They all seemed to be betting on a vampire who had won all of his matches in the last month. Merlin was intrigued, especially since vampires in the ring hardly lasted more than two or three months. If this vampire wanted out, Merlin needed to get him out before he was killed.

 “Come on Sunshine!”

“Knock him out good, Sunny.”

“Make him see daylight!”

Merlin moved closer to the ring to get a look at the two vampires. One was massive and brutish, hissing violently and swinging his weight around. The other was tall and well built. Merlin could see why the vampires were calling him Sunshine because his blond hair looks more akin to Apollo than Hades. When the vampire turned, his red eyes set on the brutish vampire, Merlin felt his magic well up and if it were possible for vampire to black out, he would have.

"Arthur." Merlin’s hands shook with unexpected nerves.

The vampire that looked like Arthur let his fangs descend and he hissed at the brutish one. The fight was entertaining for the betters, but it didn’t last long. The brutish one was dead in less than two minutes and the money was passed around. Arthur was announced as the victor and only then did his eyes look around at the crowd of spectators. His eyes landed on Merlin for a second, his brows going up in confusion before he dismissed Merlin as if he were merely just another face in the crowd.

Merlin asked to congratulate the victor and despite the chuckle of Arthur’s owner, she led him down the hall to Arthur’s cell.

When Merlin approached the cell, Arthur was sitting casually on his cot, but stood up suddenly as soon as he saw Merlin. His feet stuttered and he stopped where he was, shocked frozen in place.

“He’s come to congratulate you.” Sniggered the woman and locked the door behind Merlin.

Arthur approached him slowly. His brows knitted together like he couldn’t remember where he had seen Merlin before. “Why do I know you?” He asked more to himself than Merlin.

“Do you?” Merlin said, his voice sounded constricted in his throat. There was nothing he wanted more in the world than to feel Arthur in his arms and have Arthur know who he was, but there was a job to be done. Merlin needed to protect and advice Arthur and flinging crazy stories of destiny wouldn’t help. Arthur barely knew himself, let alone who Merlin was or their past life together.

 “When I woke up I could barely remember my own name.” Arthur stepped forward so that he was right in front of Merlin. “But I know you…Who the hell are you?” Arthur pressed an accusing finger against Merlin’s chest.

“You knew me when you were human.” Merlin said, keeping it simple.

Arthur stared him down, a mere foot away, and then he pulled away. “I don’t remember.”

“Yeah” Merlin let out a sigh. “I figured.”

“I…It’s driving me mad.” Arthur ran a hand through his hair in the exact same way he had over a thousand years ago. Merlin felt his knees begin to shake and he had to remind himself that he was supposed to be brave for Arthur. He leaned against the bars of the cell to keep him steady.

“I feel like I should. _I should know you._ ” He made a vague gesture to his own chest, as if explaining a feeling he could not express. “I feel guilty because I don’t remember you. _But why_?” He looked at Merlin and when he still didn’t remember he exhaled through his noise and said, “I feel that I owe you, to remember you at least.”

“You don’t owe me anything Arthur.”

“You say that because you remember.”

Merlin took a step forward and when Arthur didn’t pull away, Merlin set his fingers on Arthur’s jaw. His skin was as cold as Merlin’s and he had seen the fangs that were under his lips. But this was still his Arthur: the blond hair and blue eyes, the determined gaze, and the resolute set of his jaw. Then he remembered Arthur’s red eyes during the fight and the way he had killed the other vampire.

"I…” Merlin stuttered. “Not you Arthur. _Not you_. You weren’t supposed to be bitten.”

Arthur looked even more confused and Merlin had to keep himself from breaking down. He held onto Arthur’s shirt and desperately tried not to pull Arthur into an embrace. He wondered what his reaction was telling Arthur about their lives as humans, if they were lovers or only friends. If only Arthur remembered his past life.

“How did this happen?" He asked, his voice rough.

“I don’t remember anything. I woke up and I was taken to the ring.” Looking worried, he rested a hand on Merlin’s shoulder as if to reassure him.

“Why didn’t I know?” Merlin asked himself. “It doesn’t make sense. I should have known that you were back. _Why didn’t I know_?”

Merlin looked up at Arthur who only looked confused at Merlin’s muttering. “What are you talking about?”

“Look at me and tell me what you remember.”

“I don’t remember anything” Arthur said through his teeth.

“You recognize me.” Merlin said, holding onto that hope.

“Yes but for all the good that’s doing me! I keep thinking the word merlin, like the bird or the wizard, but I don’t think of those things when I look at you. It’s just _Merlin_ , over and over again. I keep thinking I know you and that I…somehow I’m _attached_ to you. You’re important to me. That’s all I know.”

Merlin smiled “Then you’re instincts are as sharp as they always were.”

“They are?” Arthur perked up, his eyes brightening.

“My name’s Merlin.”

Arthur let a smile grace his lips for a second, “So I’m right, I do know you?”

Merlin took a deep breath. “Do you think you know me well enough to trust me?” He held out his hand for Arthur to take.

Arthur looked at the out reached hand warily. “My instincts say that I would put my life in your hands.”

“And I would do the same.” Merlin reassured. “And I can get you out of here. But you’ll have to trust me.”

“You will tell me everything?” Arthur asked.

“You will remember, Arthur.” Merlin promised. “It’ll take time, but you will. And if not, I’ll tell you everything.”

Arthur took Merlin’s hands. “I trust you, Merlin.”

Merlin knew his Arthur was in there somewhere. He reveled in that note for a moment before he turned and blasted the cell door open and they made their escape.

**Author's Note:**

> Punk!Vampire!Merlin because of reasons.
> 
> Sorry this was so angsty and dark. I know I'm usually all fluff, but this is Halloween after all and I needed some dark stuff. (Believe me it could have been worse, I edited out a whole section which I deemed too dark).


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